I Broke My Phone

2025-06-25
productivity mental-health

...and I don't intend on fixing it. Here she is in all her glory:

I dropped it like 75cm (2.5ft) and this is what happened. I'm pretty mad about it. I even had a Mous phone case on it!

Fortunately, the damage to the screen is purely cosmetic; the touch input still works as you'd expect. Unfortunately the two white bars are exactly where lots of apps decide to put useful information. I can get round this by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and gently massaging the app into a space that is unobstructed. It's just more effort than if it weren't broken.

Why I'm not going to repair it ¶

It's still entirely usable for all the things I need to use it for. Online banking, emails in a pinch, texting my partner when I'm at Tesco and I forgot to make a shopping list. It's still capable of doing all those things, but it's really annoying to look at.

It comes across surprisingly well in the photo; the two white bars are very bright. Like, brighter than the max brightness the OS usually allows bright. This alone has made my phone so much less appealing to look at. It low-key hurts my eyes even under direct sunlight when my pupils are most constricted. Now imagine how it is to look at when you're on the way to bed. Scrolling through Hacker News whilst I'm brushing my teeth is not something that crosses my mind anymore. And then once I've made it to bed there's zero chance I'm looking at my phone again once the lights have been dimmed, because it's going to flashbang me.

And better than just helping me fix my sleep, this has also improved my relationship with my phone in like 99% of cases. It's so frustrating to look at that I'm just... not inclined to pick it up unless I absolutely have to. I have no inclination to pick it up and scroll through Instagram whilst I'm waiting for my M&S Tuscan Style Sausage Penne pasta to microwave. I'd genuinely rather look out the window.

You should break your phone too ¶

I'd like to say that I will accept no liability or responsibility for any damage that you do or don't decide to do to your own devices. That being said, this is the most liberated from my Psychological Torture Rectangle™ I have felt in a long time.

I've been trying for a while to recapture my attention from Zuckerberg & The Tech Barons. I've tried all sorts. If you know me, you know I'm really anal about notifications - I literally only get push notifications if my partner texts me. I also installed a blocker so that I can't get on most of my social media things during the day and I only have limited access during the evenings. All of this didn't really help. Turns out all it takes is significant damage to a £1000 piece of tech!

I now spend less time whittling away at my mental health by watching the world rot on Twitter and I have so much more attention to direct into the stuff that I care about. So I've removed a mental health sink and introduced a mental health source all in one go.

It's refreshing for my phone to be an intentional part of my day rather than an automatic one. I recommend finding a way to make this happen for yourself at all costs. Even if it involves breaking your phone.